Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-10-03

that grows mightier while wait. Fare
we'll Farewell"
Ye know the grace Of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for
your sakes He became poor"
Was there ever contrast so oyerpower-
ing as that between the MONDAY of Christ's
celestial departure and the midnight of his
earthly arrival? Sure enough the angels
were out that night i'll the sky, and especial
meteor acted as escort, but all that was
from other worlds, aud not from this
world. The earth made no demonstration
of welcome. If Zone of the great princes of
this world steps out at depot cheers re-
sound, and the bands play, and the flags
wave. But for the arrival of this mission
ary Prince of the skies not q torch fiared,
not a trumpet blew, not plume futtered.
All the music and the pomp were over
heard. Our world opened for Him nothing
better than barn door. The rajah of CASH
mere sent to Victoria bedstead OF carved
gold and canopy that cost seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, but the world
had for the Prince of heaven and earth
only litter of straw. The crown Jewels
in the Tower of London amount to fifteen
million dollars, but this member of eternal
royalty had nowhere tolay His head. To
know how poor He was, ask the camel
drivers, ask the shepherds, ask Mary, ask
the three wise men of the East who after
ward came there, young Casper and mid
dle-aged Balhaser and old Melchior. To
know how poor He was examine all the
records of real estate in all that Oriental
country, and see what vineyard, or what
house, or what field He owned. Not one.
OF what mortgage was He the mortgage?
Of what tenement was He the landlord?
Of what lease was He the leasee? Who
ever paid Him rent? Not owning the boat
on which He sailed, or the beast on which
He rode, or the pillow on which He slept.
He had 80 little estate that in order TO pay
His tax He had
TO PERFORM A MIRACLE,
putting the amount Of the assessment in a
tish's mouth and having it hauled ashore.
And after his death the world rushed in to
take All inventory Of His goods, and the EN-
tire aggregate was the garments He had
worn, sleeping in them by night and
travelling in them by day, bearing on
them the dust of the highway and the
saturation of the sea, Paul in my text
did not 90 far from hitting the mark, did
he, when he said of the missionary Prince:
For your sake he became poor"
The world could have treated him bet
Ter if it had chosen. 1t had all the means
for making His earthly condition comfort
able Only few years before when Pom
pey, the general, arrived at Brindisi he
was greeted with arches and costly col
umn which celebrated the twelve million
people whom he had killed or con-
quered, and he was allowed to wear
his triumphal robe in the Senate The
world had applause for imperial butchers
bnt buffeting for the Prince of Peace.
Plenty of golden chalices for the favored
to drink out of but our prince must put
his lips TO the bucket OF the well by the
roadside after He had begged for a drink.
Poor? Born in another mans barn aud
eating at another mans table, and cruising
the lake in another mans fishing smack,
and buried in another mans mausOleum.
Four inspired authors wrote of His bio
graphy, and innumerable lives of Christ
have been published, but He composed
His autobiography in most compressed
way. lie said: 81 have trodden the wine
press alone" Poor in the estimation of
nearly all the prosperous classes. They
call him Sabbath-breaker, wine bibber,
traitor, blasphemer, and ransacked the
dictionary of Opprobrium from lid TO lid
to press their detestatiOn. ! can think
now of only two well-to-do men who
EsPOUsED HIS CAUSE,
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
His friends for the most part were people
who in that climate where ophthalmy or
Inflammation OF the eyeball sweeps ever
and anon as a sCourge, had become blind,
sick people who were anxious 10 yet well,
and troubled people in whose family there
was some one dead or dying If He had a
purse at all IL was empty, or we would
have heard what was done with the con-
tehs at the post mOrtem. Poor? The
pigeon in the dove-cote, the rabbit in its
burrOw, the silk worm in its cocoon, the
bee in its hive is better provided for, better
of, better sheltered. All, the brute crea-
ton has home on earth, which Christ has
not.
If0n windy days the raven
Gambol like dancing skin
Not the less he loves his haven
ON the bosom Of the cliff
II almost with eagle piniOn
O'er the Alps the Chamois roam
Yet he has some small dominion
Which no doubt he calls his home
But the Crown Prince of all heavenly
dominion has less than the raven, less than
the ChamOis, for He was homeless Ave,
in the history OF the universe there il no
other instance of such coming down. Who
can count the miles from the top of the
throne TO the bottom of the cross? Cleo
patra, giving banquet to Antony, took a
pearl worth hundred thousand dollars
and dissolved il in vinegar and swallowed
it. But when our Prince, according to the
evangelist, in His last hours took the vine
gar, in il had been dissolved al the pearls
of His heavenly royalty. Down until there
was no other depth for Him TO touch,
troubled until there was no other pauper.
ism to torture. Billions of dollars spent
in wars to destroy men, who will furnish
the statistics of the value Of that precious
blood that was shed to save us? "Ye
know the
GRACE or OUR LORD JESUS
Christ, that, though lie was rich, yet for
your sakes lie BECAME poor"
Only those who study this text In two
places can fully reach its power, the Holy
Land Of Asia Minor and the holy land OF
heaven. How ] should like some day to
take a drink out Of Jacobs we'll, and take
sail on Galilee, and read the Sermon on
the Mount while standing on Olivet, and
see the wilderness where Christ was tempt
ed, and be some afternoon on Calvary at
about three o'clock, the hour at which
closed the crucifxion, and sit under the
sycamores and by the side Of brooks, and
think and dream and pray about the pow
erty of Him who came our souls TO save.
But you and / will probably be denied
that, and 80 here, in another continent and
in another hemisphere, and in scenes AZ
different AZ poesihle We reoount AZ we'll We